At the beginning of the season, I was kind of worrying that the 76ers were too enamored with their other young talent (and Amir Johnson, probably) to give Dario Saric the chances that he deserved. Those fears culminated in a 16-minute, 0-point outing in the 5th game of the season. Were they about to give up on their ROY runner-up?
Nope! Things improved for Saric after that low point, and they kept improving, and now he’s pretty much a beast. He’s not winning any scoring titles, but he’s consistent as heck, showing up every game and doing his Saric-y things. While everyone else on the team oscillates between good and bad, injured and healthy, Australian and American, having-a-decent-jumper and mysteriously-not-having-a-jumper-anymore he provides a steady presence that is really valuable. At least, it seems like it should be really valuable. I don’t actually know.
The 76ers ran amok against the Pelicans early in this one, with Embiid doing most of the damage with Saric spreading out his damage throughout the whole game (minus the fourth quarter because this game was a serious B-OUT). 24 points worth, including some threes that will delight even the surliest of viewers.